322 THE GREENSHANK TATLER. 



their plumage. We did not find any afterwards; but it is probable that we 

 had seen some previously, although we did not endeavour to procure them, 

 having supposed them to be Tell-tales. Almost all the birds seen in the 

 Floridas at this date had young or eggs; and this circumstance increased my 

 surprise at finding all the three individuals to be males. They had been shot 

 merely because they offered a tempting opportunity, being all close together, 

 and it is not often that one can kill three Tell-tales at once. As I am not 

 acquainted with the habits of this species, I have applied to my friend Mr. 

 Macgillivray, who has kindly furnished me with the following notice of 

 them as observed in the Hebrides. 



"The Greenshank is seen in the Outer Hebrides earty in spring, and gene- 

 rally departs in October, although I have observed individuals there in 

 November. Previous to the commencement of the breeding-season, and 

 after the young are fledged, it resorts to the shores of the sea, frequenting 

 pools of brackish-water at the head of the sand-fords, and the shallow mar- 

 gins of bays and creeks. Its habits are very similar to those of the Red- 

 shank, with which it associates in autumn. It is extremely shy and vigilant, 

 insomuch that one can very seldom shoot it, unless after it has deposited its 

 eggs. Many individuals remain during the summer, when they are to be 

 found by the lakes in the interior, of which the number in Uist, Harris, and 

 Lewis is astonishing. At that season it is very easily discovered, for when 

 you are perhaps more than a quarter of a mile distant, it rises into the air 

 with clamorous cries, alarming all the birds in its neighbourhood, flies round 

 the place of its nest, now wheeling off to a distance, again advancing towards 

 you, and at intervals alighting by the edge of the lake, when it continues its 

 cries, vibrating its bod} 7 all the while. I once found a nest of this bird in 

 the island of Harris. It was at a considerable distance from the water, and 

 consisted of a few fragments of heath and some blades of grass, placed in a 

 shallow cavity scraped in the turf, in an exposed place. The nest, in fact, 

 resembled that of the Golden Plover, the Curlew, or the Lapwing. The 

 eggs, placed with their narrow ends together, were four in number, pyri- 

 form, larger than those of the Lapwing, and smaller than those of the Golden 

 Plover, equally pointed with the jatter, but proportionally broader and more 

 rounded at the larger end than either. The dimensions of one of them, still 

 remaining with me, are two inches exactly, by one inch and three-eighths; 

 the ground colour is a very pale yellowish-green, sprinkled all over with 

 irregular spots of dark brown, intermixed with blotches of light purplish- 

 grey, the spots, and especially the blotches, more numerous on the larger 

 end. Although in summer these birds may be seen in many parts of the 

 islands, they are yet very rare, a pair being to be met with only at an 



